Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

It will affect people who come into a lone parent situation after that date and all of whose children are above the relevant age. The average duration of a one-parent family payment is 6.1 years. Of those receiving the payment, 10% of them have been doing so for one year or less, 13% have been doing so for between one and two years, 28% have been doing so for between two and five years, 12% have been doing so for between five and seven years and 37% have been doing do for seven years or more. The number of people who have been in receipt of this payment for a long period of time is very high. Therefore, most of them will not be affected by these changes until later in the transition period.

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